SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION - A study on how Swedish manufacturing firms can achieve sustainable digital transformation

Abstract

The revolution of digital technologies has transformed the fundamental nature of a various range of organizations and business models, which increase productivity and creativity to address market demand more effectively than ever and allow faster information sharing thus reaching higher levels of collaboration. However, digital transformation often comes with many challenges, which require lots of time, effort, and willpower to get major transformative effects from new technology. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has given many organizations unexpected crash courses in digitalization, while much progress such as hardware and infrastructure has been made, many organizations are facing the challenges of integration fragmented and shifting the transformation in a way that is sustainable. Therefore, this thesis aims to identify the implementation of sustainable digital transformation in Swedish manufacturing companies. In more specific, the research seeks to provide up-todate insights into how companies are doing their digital transformation, how sustainability is incorporated, the linked opportunities and challenges, and how to do it effectively, by analyzing and defining essential factors that contribute to it. To find an in-depth understanding, a qualitative research strategy was chosen with the exploratory and abductive approaches. The research was based on both theoretical framework and semi-structured interview. The interviewees were selected following the predetermined area, resulting in six interviews. The findings from the interviews were thereafter analyzed by thematic coding and compared with the theoretical framework. The findings identified three attributes of digital transformation: a transformation process, with digital technologies involved, to capture most value, which can be categorized into five elements: business model, customer experience, operation, employee experience, digital platform. To assess the level of sustainability of the digital transformation, the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is used with five levels: system, success, strategy, action, and tool. Then, the thesis identified three key opportunities with thirteen incorporated: revenue and business, streamlined operation, sustainability; five key challenges with eleven incorporated: resistance to changes, one-size-fits-all training approach, technical debt, complexity-in-use, energy inefficiency. Next, the five key actions with sixteen incorporated to achieve sustainable digital transformation were identified: a strong culture of innovation and sustainability; strong leadership team with clear visions and implementation plan; recruiting, training, and supporting talents; communication is key; deep understanding of users. Finally, all attributes were connected and presented in a framework.